Monday, February 25, 2008

I'm a Gluten - Free, Fat - Free, High - Protein Vegan!

At least for today's snack, which is actually a "baker's treat" left over from a treat I made Andrew today. Why? Well, I still feel bad from yesterday's b*tchfest (which continued through this morning...) and I wanted to try my hand at gluten-free baking while actually, intentionally keeping it gluten-free and not just as a fluke. Luckily, I had a great starting block: Susan from FatFree Vegan's Gluten-Free Chickpea Crackers.

The only changes I made to the recipe (which actually started out as pancakes for Susan) were that I omitted the small amount of oil (I wanted to taste too!), and used rice flour to dust everything (several times!) before finally giving up on the whole rolling thing and just smashing the dough onto the counter with the heel of my hand. Hey, I never said I was patient, but by God I was not about to toss out ingredients! Definite kudos to all the GF bakers out there, you are some strong chefs! I guess it's like me and the whole fat / meat / dairy / egg intolerance thing... you do what you can with what you've got, eh?

The verdict on these beaten disks? Well, I'm not too sure about the taste myself. Nutritional yeast and my tastebuds aren't always the best of friends, so next time I'll probably cut back (though I'm posting what I did today). However, they're still mighty fine goodies, and even though it is redundant I bet they'd be very happy alongside some garlicky hummus! I'm sending these off to the Bread Baking Day round-up over at Chili und Ciabatta (the theme of which is flatbread), since these crackers are definitely flat!

Herby Chickpea Crackers
Serves 41/2 cup chickpea flour, sifted before measuring
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
2 tablespoons nutritional yeast
1/2 tbsp pepper
1 tsp oregano
3-5 tablespoons water (it really depends on your kitchen... I think I added too much)
  1. Preheat oven to 350F.
  2. Mix all dry ingredients together well.
  3. Begin stirring in water one tablespoon at a time. When the dough can be formed into a ball, you have added enough water.
  4. Knead the dough several times to distribute the ingredients, and then roll it in plastic wrap and let rest 15-20 minutes (I stuck mine in the fridge with my soymilk and pickles haha).
  5. Dust your work area and rolling pin well with gluten-free flour (or, you know, drench everything... I didn't realize how sticky gluten-free is!).
  6. Divide dough in half, put half on the floured surface, and sprinkle the top with flour.
  7. Pat out into thin rounds.
  8. Bake for 15 minutes, then turn off oven and allow them to cool inside about 1 hour.
Amount Per Serving
Calories: 59.5
Total Fat: 1.0 g
Cholesterol: 0.0 mg
Sodium: 8.5 mg
Total Carbs: 8.5 g
Dietary Fiber: 2.2 g
Protein: 4.7 g

The rest of these crackers went into a container (after they had cooled, of course) for Andrew to snack on tomorrow. Between these and a rather delicious smelling loaf of bread that just emerged from the oven, I don't think he'll miss the cream puffs from school that are going to his dad and brother. Since he doesn't like them anyway, I doubt he'd miss them regardless! Here's the photo I promised yesterday, of half the load I carted home on the train. Baked goods need to transport easier!!

2 comments :

  1. I've been meaning to try my hand at gluten-free baking. I just don't know what sort of project I should try.

    My imaginary dream job would be to open an 'alternative' bakery in town with vegan, GF, sugar-free, etc. goodies.

    ReplyDelete

Thanks for the feedback!